Today is Epiphany Eve, the twelfth (and final!) day of Christmas, before the season of Epiphany begins tomorrow. This day of the Christian calendar commemorates the coming of the Magi—when the world came seeking (and finding!) God-with-us (and also, in some traditions, the moment of Jesus’ baptism, when his identity was proclaimed, revealed for us to know him as the Son God loves). The word epiphany comes from the Greek ἐπιφάνεια meaning “to make manifest, to show forth, to appear”. We use it when we have those “aha! moments”, when something becomes clear that wasn’t previously. But what was being revealed at Epiphany? What do we see, that we hadn’t before? In God revealing God’s self-in-the-flesh to the Magi, we see that God’s arms were thrown wider than anyone thought – YHWH would not be found by only faithful Jews, but even by foreigners who followed the signs of the heavens. He would meet ALL of us with his light. Up to this point, non-Jews could only hope to be part of God’s family by becoming Jews (which included some… painful… physical sacrifices!). Imagine being someone who longed for truth and light, and thinking this particular God was just a Jewish thing. You were on the outside. And then –THEN!– the light comes for you, too! It turns out YHWH isn’t just a tribal deity; the God of the universe reveals that *everyone* is invited to the table. How might this Epiphany be, for you, a time of realizing you, too, are invited? That you’re not an outsider – that experiencing God isn’t just something for “other” people. That there is light being revealed in your life, too. What would it be to trust the journey and follow the light to its source, this Epiphany? Take a few moments, this Epiphany Eve to lean into the “before” feelings one more time (When have you felt “on the outside” of it all? What would it have been like if Jesus was born only "to the Jews", as these men originally thought?). Then, when the light dawns tomorrow, let it be for you, too.

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2022-01-05 14:58:53 UTC